Worst Dictators & Tyrants

Worst Dictators and Tyrants 🦹 All-Time List

Compiling ADDucation’s list of the worst dictators and tyrants of all time hasn’t been easy nor fun but we think it’s important to learn from the past. History may recognize a handful of “benevolent dictators” but most dictators are also tyrants who oppressed the populations under their control.

Worst dictators and tyrants list was last updated 18 Aug 2024.

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Name of Worst Dictators 🦹	Country / Group	Born	Died	Age on Takeover	From	To	🦹Worst Dictators Responsible for…	Estimated Victims
al-Assad, Bashar	🇸🇾 Syria	1965	–	34	2000	2024	During the ongoing civil war in Syria since 2013 Bashar al-Assad is responsible for the bombing of his own population. He stands accused by the UN of war crime for the chemical weapons attack which killed 1,400 people in Damascus suburbs in 2013.	130,000+
al-Assad, Hafez	🇸🇾 Syria	1930	2000	41	1970	2000	Hafez al-Assad created a cult of personality around himself and his family and maintained control of the one party state by putting state security and intelligence services in the hands of the Shia Islam Alawites.	10,000
bin Laden, Osama	Al-Qaeda	1957	2011	37	1994	2011	Osama bin Laden was involved in the 1988 Gilgit Massacre in Kashmir and eventually admitted responsibility for the September 11th attacks in tapes aired by Al Jazeera in 2006.	4,000
Castro, Fidel	🇨🇺 Cuba	1926	2016	33	1959	2008	Fidel Castro jailed innumerable critics and dissidents and eventually handed power to his brother Raúl Castro in 2008, due to illness.	1,000
Ceaușescu, Nicolae	🇷🇴 Romania	1918	1989	47	1967	1989	Dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu consolidated power by jailing thousands of political opponents and sending many others to psychiatric hospitals. He suffered from paranoia and anointed himself “Conducător” and oppressed the Romanian people.	60,000
Chiang Kai-shek	🇨🇳 China	1887	1975	41	1928	1975	Chiang presided over purges, political authoritarianism, martial law and is named as responsible for the February 28 (2/28) massacre in 1947 (disputed by some scholars).	10,000
Duvalier, Jean Claude “Baby Doc”	🇭🇹 Haiti	1951	2014	19	1971	1986	Dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier was responsible for the persecution of political opponents, founding of the brutal “Tontons Macoutes” militia.	30,000
Franco, Francisco “El caudillo”	🇪🇸 Spain	1892	1975	46	1939	1975	Dictator Francisco Franco established a totalitarian one party state after the Spanish Civil War 1936-39, which claimed half a million lives. Franco’s Spain was responsible for political purges, torture, forced labor and executions in concentration camps.	1,200,000
Gadaffi, al Muammar “Colonel Gadaffi”	🇱🇾 Libya	1942	2011	27	1969	2011	As Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi was responsible for crimes against humanity including the infamous terrorist attack on Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 which resulted in the Lockerbie disaster in Scotland leaving 270 dead from 20 different countries.	5,000
Gengis Khan	🇲🇳 Mongolia	c1162	1227	44	1206	1227	Genghis Khan was a brutal leader one of the worst dictators in history. Gengis Khan bought together nomadic tribes across Northeast Asia to form the Mongol Empire of which he was the “Great Khan”. Mongol invasions across Asia and Europe followed and history holds Genghis Khan responsible for mass extermination, terrorism, ethnic cleansing and genocide on an unimaginable scale.	40,000,000+
Hirohito, Emperor (Tenno)	🇯🇵 Japan	1901	1989	25	1926	1989	Hirohito was not only one of the worst dictators but also one of the worst Emperors ever. He was Emperor during the second Japanese-Chinese War (1937-1945) and responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 which bought the USA into World War II. Historians argue over the extent of Emperor Hirohito’s involvement in Japanese war crimes which killed millions of people.	10,000,000
Hitler, Adolf “Führer”	🇩🇪 Nazi Germany	1889	1945	43	1933	1945	Adolf Hitler was undoubtedly one of the worst dictators that ever lived. Hitler and his cronies were responsible for the systematic persecution and extermination of Jews, Roma (Gypsies), communists, socialists, trade unionists, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, common criminals and others in concentration camps during Word War II.	55,000,000
Hussein, Saddam	🇮🇶 Iraq	1937	2006	42	1979	2003	As dictator Saddem Hussein was responsible for massacres of Shiites and Kurds and the first Gulf War against Iran between 1980-1988.	1,300,000
Idi Amin	🇺🇬 Uganda	1928	2003	43	1971	1979	Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was responsible for the persecution and murder of intellectuals, officers and judges and the brutal destruction of entire villages.	300,000
Ivan the Terrrible	🇷🇺 Russia	1530	1584	16	1547	1584	Ivan VI carried out mass executions and murdered thousands of people. Ivan the terrible was choleric, a sadist, and had a violent temper.	up to 220,000
Kim il-sung	🇰🇵 North Korea	1912	1994	36	1948	1994	Korean War against South Korea between 1950 and 1953.	3,500,000
Kim Jong-il	🇰🇵 North Korea	1941	2011	53	1994	2011	Torture, public executions, reign of terror. Accused of Human rights violations by the UN General Assembly in 2011 which have continued uder Kim Jong-il.	3,000,000
Kim Jong Un	🇰🇵 North Korea	1983	–	29	2012		In 2014 UN investigation recommends making Kim Jong-un accountable for crimes against humanity.	unknown
Kambanda, Jean	🇷🇼 Rwanda	1955	–	39	1994		Jean Kambanda was president of a caretaker government in Rwanda and responsible for the 1994 Rwandan Genocide when the from Hutu to Tutsi.	800,000
Khomeini, Ruhollah	🇮🇷 Iran	1902	1989	77	1979	1989	Ayatollah Khomeini fought the First Gulf War against Iraq (1980-1988) and is responsible for the execution of thousands of political prisoners and war criminals. Khomeini founded the Islamic Republic of Iran.	50,000
Kony, Joseph	🇺🇬 Uganda	1961	–	26	1986		Tyrant Joseph Kony founded the brutal rebel group LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) including around 66,000 child soldiers.	100,000
Leopold II, King	🇧🇪 Belgium	1835	1909	30	1865	1909	King Leopold II of Belgium is not only one of the worst dictators but also one of the worst monarchs ever. Leopold II was responsible for brutal atrocities (the “Congo Horrors”) against the population of the Belgian Congo.	2,000,000+
Mao Zedong	🇨🇳 People’s Republic of China	1893	1976	56	1949	1976	Mao Tse-tung also known as Chairman Mao initiated the Cultural Revolution which banished most of the intellectuals from universities to the countryside to be re-educated and perform manual labor. One of the worst dictators of the 20th century.	20,000,000
Marcos, Ferdinand	🇵🇭 Philippines	1917	1989	48	1965	1986	Ferdinand Marcos ruled as a dictator under martial law from 1972 through to 1981 during which time Amnesty International states 70,000 people were imprisoned, 34,000 were tortured and 3,240 were killed.	3,240
Mengistu, Haile Mariam	🇪🇹 Ethiopia	1937	–	40	1977	1991	Fall of Emperor Haile Selassie 1974; “Red Terror” against regime opponents; imprisonment and torture.	1,500,000
Milosevic, Slobodan	🇷🇸 Serbia, Yugoslavia	1941	2006	48	1989	2000	Balkan conflicts in Yugoslavia; Serbia vs. Croatia (1991-95); vs. Bosnia (1992-95); vs. Kosovo (1998-99).	200,000
Mubarak, Husni	🇪🇬 Egypt	1928	2020	53	1981	2011	Autocratic reign in a virtually military state, suppressed opposition, brutally crushed the “Arab Spring” uprising in 2011 but he was eventually aquitted of conspiring to kill protesters.	none proven
Mugabe, Robert	🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	1924	2019	63	1987		As dictator Robert Mugabe was responsible for persecution, imprisonment, torture and famine in Zimbabwe. The Gukurahundi massacres, between 1982 and1987, were carried out by Mugabe’s Fifth Brigade of the Zimbabwe National Army resulting in the death of at least 10,000 Ndebele mostly civilians.	10,000
Mohammed, Omar	🇦🇫 Afghanistan Taliban	1960	2013	36	1996	2001	Tyrant Mullah Mohammed Omar was co-founder and leader of the Taliban, radical Islamic terrorist group, responsible for massacres and the September 11 attacks (9/11) in 2001 terrorist attacks against the USA.	100,000+
Mussolini, Benito “Il Duce”	🇮🇹 Italy	1883	1945	39	1922	1943	Benito Mussolini took Italy into an alliance with Adolf Hitler and Germany in World War II. Responsible for anti-Semitic racial laws.	1,200,000
Nyýazow, Saparmyrat	🇹🇲 Turkmenistan	1940	2006	51	1991	2006	Saparmyrat Nyýazow was a totalitarian dictator and megalomaniac (he even renamed January after him), electoral fraud. His successor Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow has continued as a totalitarian leader and may well be added to this list.	unknown
Omar, (also Umar) al-Bashir	🇸🇩 Sudan	1944	–	45	1989		In 2008 dictator Omar al-Bashir was accused, by the International Criminal Court (ICC), of responsibility for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Dafur since 2003.	100,000+
Pinochet, Augusto	🇨🇱 Chile	1915	2006	58	1973	1990	Augusto Pinochet was dictator of Chile following the violent coup against President Salvador Allende and responsible for torture and murder.	3,200
Pol Pot	🇰🇭 Cambodia Red Khmer	1925	1998	50	1975	1979	During the guerrilla warfare in Cambodia dictator Pol Pot was responsible for genocide of the population.	1,200,000
Stalin, Joseph	Soviet Union	1878	1953	43	1922	1953	Joseph Stalin is one of the worst dictators ever. He was responsible for systematic executions; forced labor in Gulag labor camp; deportation of entire ethnic groups across Europe.	25,000,000
Suharto, Haji Mohammed	🇮🇩 Indonesia	1921	2008	46	1967	1998	Muhammad Soeharto was responsible for the mass murder of around half a million people between 1965 and 1966 following a failed coup attempt and human rights abuses including widespread torture, massacres of alleged communists and war crimes in Aceh, East Timor, Papua and the Moluccan islands.	1,200,000
Taylor, Charles	🇱🇷 Liberia	1948	–	49	1997	2003	Massacres among own population and creation of a brutal rebel group, civil war in Sierra Leone.	300,000
Tito, Josip Broz	Former Republic of Yugoslavia	1892	1980	53	1945	1980	Authoritarian government; founded “real socialism” dictatorship; mass arrests after the “Croatian Spring” in 1971.	100,000
Videla, Jorge Rafael	🇦🇷 Argentina	1925	2013	51	1976	1981	Jorge Rafael Videla was dictator of Argentina until after they lost the Falklands war in 1982. In 2010 Videla accepted responsibility for the actions of his military junta which, according to APDH (Assembly for Human Rights), were responsible for the deaths or disappearance of 12,261 people.	13,000

Worst Dictators & Tyrants

Worst Dictators and Tyrants 🦹 All-Time List

See also: Famous Assassinations… | Historical Battles…

For tyrants and the worst dictators the answer to all these questions is NO: